New man Wagner plans to go full throttle to transform Huddersfield Town’s fortunes

The German, who will be assisted by Christophe Buhler – first-team coach Steve Eyre has left the club – professed to being surprised when Town got in touch last week after he left his role as under-23 coach at Borussia Dortmund.

But after thinking about the club’s offer and quickly doing some research, the 44-year-old admits that the lure of becoming head coach proved impossible to turn down – despite having the chance to join the backroom staff at Liverpool, managed by his good friend Jurgen Klopp.

Wagner worked with Klopp at the Westfalenstadion and was also best man at his wedding, with the Anfield manager also being a godparent to his youngest daughter.

The good friends also share the same footballing credos and are proponents of high-pressing, fast-paced counter-attacking style of play known as gegenpressing which Klopp cultivated masterfully at Dortmund.

Wagner admits he was keen to branch out on his own as a head coach.

On joining Town, Wagner, who will spend time with his new charges in Spain during the international break before his first match in charge – a derby at Sheffield Wednesday on November 21 – said: “It was a surprise, of course. In Germany, I think everyone expected that I would go to a Bundesliga second (division) club. Me too!

“But when the call came and in the next few hours when I got information about Huddersfield Town that it is a solid club with a good vision and able to develop, I was sure that I would like to do this.

“Everyone knows we are from Dortmund and what kind of football we play there and this is exactly what we like to bring here to Huddersfield.

“The style of football Huddersfield expect in the future is exactly what we stand for. They expect speed and passion and for young players to be developed and for teams to go forward and score goals. This is the philosophy and style of work we have.

“It is important I don’t have to be an ‘actor.’ I can be myself and do what I stand for. This is a perfect situation for me.

On his footballing philosophy, he added: “Everybody knows the full-throttle football we like to create. They (Huddersfield) are open for something new. At the end, everyone likes results and I know that there is not only one way.

“I know I am not the man who knows everything. But I know our way is one way and I am totally convinced of this way. It takes time, but the main thing is to open the minds of the players and to build up the fitness. As to play this transition way and geganpressing style, you need unbelievable fitness.

“From a distance, the mentality of this team looks good. If you have to build up this mentality, it is much more difficult. I think we have the mentality to play this full-throttle football.”

Town chief executive Nigel Clibbens revealed that Liverpool’s growing interest in adding Wagner to Klopp’s coaching team proved the catalyst to their decision to quickly target him.

He said: “Timing-wise, it was well reported that David could have joined Jurgen at Liverpool. It would not have been a surprise to anyone if that he happened.

“But when David was released from Dortmund that speeded up our thoughts in our own mind that if we were going to take this step, now was the time to do it. There will be lots of talk about David’s relationship with Jurgen. But David is his own man and here on his own merits rather than because of who he knows. I am sure he will come to show that.”

Revealing that Klopp has wished him well, Wagner said: “What I can say is that everybody knows I have a good relationship with Jurgen and he’s a good friend of mine.

“I wish him all the best and I know he wishes us all the best for our work here.”

A desire to buck the trend and go for an innovative and head-turning appointment of a foreign head coach for the first time in their history was another key factor, according to Clibbens.

He said that Wagner will be given the time and backing to start transforming the club’s fortunes, with exploring new transfer markets such as in Wagner’s homeland of Germany a possibility.

Clibbens added: “It was in our minds that if we were to make a change, we’d look overseas.

“There are no guarantees. We all understand that this isn’t without risks and there will be ups and downs.

“But we are committed to doing everything we can to make this work. It’s a good chance to do something different and get away from being like everyone else.

“You can be drawn into the merry-go-round of managers who go from club to club and have the same ideas.

“That foreign managers approach to hard work and have a different type of mentality is attractive to a lot of owners now. There is also the fact that this also opens up new areas to look for players.

“Being realistic, for us to (previously) have looked to Germany might have been a stretch too far. But with David’s knowledge, that opens it up and I think we have seen that with other coaches.”